Pizza Port
301 N. El Camino Real
San Clemente, CA 92672
This time of year we always have lots of birthdays going on. This time it was Jimmy's turn to blow out the candles. Where did Jimmy choose to have his birthday dinner? Pizza Port in San Clemente. I had never been here before, so we grabbed my camera and headed south down the freeway.
First a little history. Pizza Port was started by a brother and sister in 1987. They bought a struggling pizza joint in the quiet beach town of Solana Beach, which is just north of San Diego. They re-worked the menu, adding their own special touches, and five years after they opened, they started brewing their own beer. Now almost twenty years later they have four restaurants, and have won some major awards for their beer brewing. Let's see if they should win anything for their pizza.
We arrived at six on a Sunday night. The layout of Pizza Port is a little odd. You park on the roof, then walk down three flights of stairs to order. The vibe here is beach casual. It seemed like the Sunday we were here there were lots of people that had hung out at the beach all day, then they decided to come have some beverages and pizza here. Let's check out the food.
Starting us off we had their Beer Buddies. This is their pizza dough, brushed with garlic, and served with Ranch dressing and marinara. An interesting take on garlic bread. I actually really liked this basic appetizer. This would have been made even better with a little cheese on it, but it was still worth getting.
The salads at Pizza Port were average. We ended up with two of their Party Sized Salads. The one above is the Garden salad, and the other one that I did not get a shot of was the Caesar salad. The Caesar came with dressing on it, but it was so light on dressing, that it was barely noticeable.
Alright, here is a shot of the pizzas from Pizza Port. I just want to make it known that I did not get a say in the topping choices for these pizzas. Pretty standard choices here, but to be honest I was pretty impressed with their pizza. The simplicity of the toppings really showed that their dough and cheese was good quality stuff. Of course next time I go, I will have to try their Meat Extreme Pizza, or their BBQ Cheeseburger Pizza, but this was a good introduction to their pies.
Pizza Port piqued my interest with this visit. The atmosphere was pretty chill, the pizzas that we had were pretty solid, and I definitely will try their award winning beer the next time I am here. The birthday boy, Jimmy seemed pretty pleased with his selection of restaurants as well. I was just glad to be able to help share in his big day.
Out of five Wolf Men, (because former San Clemente resident Lon Chaney Jr. was famous for portraying the canine character in movies), five being best to zero being worst, Pizza Port gets 3 Wolf Men.
For more information about Pizza Port, click here: http://www.pizzaport.com/
